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Fusion Technology Better Detects Prostate Cancer

Targeted biopsy using new fusion technology that combines magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with ultrasound is more effective than standard biopsy in detecting high-risk prostate cancer, according to a large-scale study published in The Journal of the American Medical Association. More than 1,000 men participated in the research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) over a seven-year period.

Researchers found that 30 percent more high-risk prostate cancers were diagnosed with targeted fusion-guided biopsy than with standard biopsy. In addition, 17 percent fewer low-risk cancers were diagnosed with the new approach, compared to the older method. In a targeted biopsy, MRIs of the suspected cancer are fused with real-time ultrasound images, creating a map of the prostate that enables doctors to pinpoint and test suspicious areas. In a standard biopsy, doctors use ultrasound guidance to take multiple random tissue samples from throughout the gland. Unlike other cancers, such as breast cancer, which can be detected through mammograms, prostate cancer is not generally diagnosed using advanced imaging.

"With fusion technology, we now have a tool to help us differentiate high-risk cancers from low-risk ones that may require minimal or no treatment," Siddiqui says. "There is a concern that we overdiagnose and overtreat low-risk cancers that are unlikely to be terminal, and this technology enables us to make a more reliable diagnosis than the current standard practice."

But he adds, "While these findings could translate into substantial benefit to patients, this study is preliminary with regard to clinical endpoints such as recurrence of disease and prostate-cancer-specific mortality." Siddiqui says randomized clinical trials will be needed to determine the impact of targeted biopsy on clinical outcomes.

E. Albert Reece, MD, PhD, MBA, vice president for medical affairs at the University of Maryland and the John Z. and Akiko K. Bowers Distinguished Professor and dean of the University of Maryland School of Medicine, says, "This study demonstrates that the MRI/ultrasound fusion biopsy technique offers benefits when compared to the current standard of care to diagnose clinically significant prostate cancer. Although further research is needed, this method holds promise, especially for diagnosing men with high-grade, aggressive cancers that may go undetected. Dr. Siddiqui is actively pursuing new research initiatives to bring fusion-guided biopsy into the clinical setting."

Siddiqui plans to use MRI/ultrasound fusion in a clinical trial to identify and biopsy questionable areas within the prostate. In cases where treatment can be deferred, he will use this technology to perform more reliable active surveillance of prostate cancer requiring fewer biopsies. If the disease requires treatment and isn't widespread, he will use focal brachytherapy -- implanted radioactive seeds -- to irradiate only the tumor, sparing the surrounding tissue. For patients with early-stage cancer, this option avoids many of the side effects associated with removing the prostate or irradiating the entire gland. In more severe cases, the MRI can help guide more aggressive options such as robotic surgery.

Prostate cancer is highly curable, with a 94 percent 15-year relative survival rate for early stages. It is often diagnosed after blood tests show elevated prostate-specific antigen (PSA), but the PSA test has come increasingly under fire for being unreliable. Due to an inability to differentiate aggressive cancers from nonaggressive types, physicians treat the majority of cases, which may lead to side effects such as impotence and/or incontinence. Treatments include surgery to remove the prostate, radiation therapy, and active surveillance during which patients are continuously monitored. Most men diagnosed with prostate cancer have a nonaggressive form of the disease, with tumors that grow very slowly -- so slowly that the men may never experience any cancer-related complications and die from other causes.

The study of 1,003 men was conducted at the NIH in Bethesda, Md., from 2007-2014, with Peter A. Pinto, MD, head of the prostate cancer section of the urologic oncology branch, serving as the senior investigator. The participants were referred for biopsy because of elevated PSA or an abnormal digital rectal exam. They received targeted and concurrent standard biopsies.

Researchers noted that 461 prostate cancer cases were diagnosed with targeted biopsy versus 469 cases with standard biopsy. Targeted and standard biopsies produced the same results in 69 percent of the cases. But the scientists found that 30 percent more high-risk cancers -- those that doctors want to detect -- were diagnosed through targeted biopsy than standard biopsy (173 versus 122 cases) and 17 percent fewer low-risk cancers -- those that are often overdiagnosed and overtreated (213 versus 258) were found. Adding standard biopsy to targeted biopsy led to a 22 percent increase in cancer diagnoses, the vast majority of them for low-risk cancers.

Researchers also found that targeted biopsy was better able to predict whether the disease was low or intermediate risk than standard biopsy or the two approaches combined. They were able to make that determination by comparing biopsied tissue with tissue taken from a patient's prostate after it was later surgically removed.

About the University of Maryland School of Medicine

The University of Maryland School of Medicine was chartered in 1807 and is the first public medical school in the United States. It continues today as an innovative leader in accelerating innovation and discovery in medicine. The School of Medicine is the founding school of the University of Maryland and is an integral part of the 11-campus University System of Maryland. Located on the University of Maryland's Baltimore campus, the School of Medicine works closely with the University of Maryland Medical Center to provide a research-intensive, academic, and clinically based education. With 43 academic departments, centers and institutes and a faculty of more than 4,000 physicians and research scientists plus more than $400 million in extramural funding, the school is regarded as one of the leading biomedical research institutions in the U.S. with top-tier faculty and programs in cancer, brain science, surgery and transplantation, trauma and emergency medicine, vaccine development, and human genomics, among other centers of excellence. The school is not only concerned with the health of the citizens of Maryland and the nation, but also has a global vision, with research and treatment facilities in more than 30 countries around the world.

About the University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Cancer Center

The University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Cancer Center, a National Cancer Institute-designated center in Baltimore affiliated with the University of Maryland Medical Center and University of Maryland School of Medicine, offers a multidisciplinary approach to treating all types of cancer and has an active cancer research program. It is ranked in the top 50 cancer programs in the nation by U.S. News & World Report.